Saturday, September 06, 2008

Camera Critters - 9.6

Finally! I've been waiting a week to post these! Last weekend we took the kids to the zoo.

Ok fine. They really didn't want to go. I did. I have such an obsession with animals that no matter what city we go - we have to go see their zoo (if they have one, of course!). In all honesty, zoos make me sad. I don't like the looks on the animals faces because they look so... well, sad. I hate seeing them caged up, but yet - where else am I going to see them?

Thee demons wanted to go to the big zoo - the MNZoo down by Minneapolis... why? There is a really cute little zoo with a handfull of animals within 1/2 hour from us! There's never a lot of people (fear of crowds, ya know) - I think there were 5 cars in the parking lot Saturday morning? It's a great zoo.. it's advertised as free, and it used to be, but now they ask for a certain amount in a "donation". Whatever - I'm not complaining. All 4 of us got in for $15. I think thats the cost of one ticket at the MNZoo.

I wanted to post these all week, but I was saving them for (my favorite - have I ever said that?) meme - Camera Critters. My favorite animal at the zoo, the tigers, were sleeping and we could barely see them in the shadows, so I didn't get pics of them. Last year when we were here they came right up to the fence. That was amazing!

Anyway.... you didn't come here to read, did you?
First were the prairie dogs. They are so fun to watch. We went right away in the morning, so they were hungry. We put our quarter in the food machine and they all came running - made for some great shots!
As I said, I didn't get to see my tigers, but I did get to see the cougars. I love watching big cats (hence the whole "kittilicious" or "kittyobsessed" screennames I go by). As soon as we walked up to the fence line of this cougar one of the demons blurted out "Great. Now Mom's gonna stand here for a 1/2 hour!".

It would have been worse at the MNZoo, my loves. More cats.
Every zoo has a petting zoo part, doesn't it? This guy was pretty friendly... and really seemed to be interested with the monkey holding the camera.
I guess the downfall of going to the zoo right away in the morning is the animals that sleep in... the big black bear (and he was big!) was sleeping in a corner and all we could see what his butt and his paw. I didn't want a picture of a bear butt (it was kinda cute, though) so I took a picture of his paw instead.
His cubs, however, were enjoying the morning with lots of playing! (The mama bear was in another pen and was totally out of view - she was sleeping, too. But with these cubs, I don't blame her! They were LOUD and obnoxious. That thing he's standing on is probably at least 10 feet high - the 3 cubs would go up and down and up and down and yell at each other.... it was pretty entertaining!

I really wish I could lie and say I got this one in the wild, but if you look close you can see mom's tagged ear in the corner. They have a GORGEOUS area for the whitetailed deer. It took us awhile to find the small herd (a few does, only saw one fawn and never found the buck(s) ) because they were hiding so well. But we finally found them and this little one especially was pretty curious. I didn't realize until we got home how funny of a shot I actually got! My first thought of "this is my feelings about living in a zoo!" - which goes back to my mixed feeling of zoos.

28 comments:

Indrani said...

Sounds like an interesting visit and you got some real good shots.

Anonymous said...

We just got back from a Zoo today! and I saw them all:) Mine is HERE if you have a time! Thanks! Happy CC!

bobbie said...

You have a really nice group of pictures here. Zoos kind of make me sad, but the animals do look well taken care of.

Norm said...

wow! all your photos are wonderful and very beautiful...great shot!!!!

Busy Mom in Iowa said...

Beautiful!! I also love going to the zoo!

Kerri Farley said...

Oh, I can so relate to the mixed feelings about a zoo.

Great shots!!

Reader Wil said...

Unlike other children, I was always interested in zoos, my sisters and cousins went directly for the playground. Thanks for sharing your photos !

Cecelia---Sis---Mom said...

Awesone photos, my favorites would have to be the prairie dogs, I think they are so cute!

Ramblings of a Villas Girl said...

I feel the same as you. I love going to the zoo, but always feel bad that they are caged. They are all beautiful pictures, but I especially love the bear paw.

Rhea said...

Great pictures! The prairie dogs are adorable. I love going to the zoo too. Sorry you didn't get the tigers. :o)

Misty DawnS said...

I wanna go to the zoo, but Hubs says "once you've seen one zoo, you've seen them all" - he's SUCH a Funsucker! Can I go with you next time? ppppplease!

I LOVE these shots - ALL of them... but my favorite is the cougar... those eyes - absolutely gorgeous.

Cátia said...

nice group of pictures!well done

i beati said...

all fun to see. sk

ratmammy said...

some realy great photos, but i loved the prairie dogs the best...

magiceye said...

That was a very interesting post indeed!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a great time at the Zoo. Those are wonderful esp. those prairie dogs and the deer!

Dirkjogt said...

Love the pictures! The prairy dogs are very cute!
Dirkjogt, Belgium

Lilli & Nevada said...

Love that first shot although the others are very nice too, but not often you see two together like that

Janet said...

I haven't been to a real zoo for awhile. Nice photo trip, though!

Anonymous said...

Cute pics all, but my favorite is the paw...funny how that works.

HeatherK said...

Very nice. Love all the pictures. Great cougar shot . bear paw is very cute

Jane Hards Photography said...

What a varied collection. I love the wildlife park here, it's so open. Lovely collection, bit I know what uou mean about caged animals.

Anonymous said...

Great photos! Thanks for sharing. Stop by and say hi to my CC'ers! Hope you have a great weekend.

AppleDebbie said...

Oh my gosh, what a wonderful sequence of pictures. I loved them all but the donkey face really made me smile!

Rae said...

We've got a really nice zoo here in the Valley, I know you'd love it and there are quite a lot of cats. Come see it!

Rayne said...

fantastic photos. Loved the donkey shot.

The Dork One said...

i love the prairie dogs!

nice shots!

Lapa37 said...

Great pictures I agree with you about going to the zoo it is fun and interesting to see the animals but also sad to see them caged up.